Neither of those things, he admitted to himself behind the mask of his outwardly confident features, was really likely. But his only alternatives were to play for the possibility, however remote, that he could pull one of them off or else to simply surrender everything he’d spent the last forty-six T-months trying to achieve.

He couldn’t do that. Even running the very real risk of slipping back over into a brief, bloody clash with the Republic was better than that. Nor could he allow anything to divert his attention or his resources from the looming confrontation with Pritchart. Everything must be focused at the critical point, including the full resources of the Navy. Which meant all other problems, including whatever was happening in Silesia, must be relegated to a secondary or even tertiary level of priority. So people like Duchess Harrington were simply going to have to get by as best they could with the resources they already possessed, because Michael Janvier, Baron High Ridge, Prime Minister of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, refused to surrender without a fight.

Chapter Forty-Five

“THE exec needs you on the bridge, Skipper.”

Thomas Bachfisch laid his cards facedown on the card table and swung his chair to face the rating who’d just poked his head through the hatch into the officers’ lounge.

“Did he say why?” the captain asked.

“Yes, Sir. One of those Peep destroyers is up to something.”

“Is it?” Bachfisch made his voice sound completely calm and glanced back at his partner and their opponents.

“I’d better go take a look,” he told them, and nodded to Lieutenant Hairston. “Make sure they don’t cheat when they add up the score, Roberta. We’ll finish trouncing them later.”

“If you say so, Skip,” Hairston said, looking dubiously at the score sheet.

“I do,” he assured her firmly, then stood and headed for the hatch.

· · • · ·

Jinchu Gruber looked up from Pirate’s Bane’s main tactical display as Bachfisch arrived on the armed freighter’s bridge. The plot was less detailed than it might have been, since the Bane had no interest in advertising her full capabilities. All of the data displayed on it had been collected using solely passive sensors, but that was quite adequate for Bachfisch’s purposes. Especially this close to the object of his interest.

“What’s happening, Jinchu?” he asked quietly as he crossed to the exec’s side.

“I’m not really sure, Skipper,” Gruber replied in a tone which made the simple statement answer at least half a dozen questions. Like “Why do you think we’re so interested in a pair of Havenite destroyers?” or “Why do you think we’ve sat here in orbit for the last four days, piling up penalty fees for late delivery?” or “What in the galaxy do you think is going on in your captain’s putative mind?”

Bachfisch’s lips hovered on the edge of a smile as the thought passed through his brain, but it was a fleeting one.

“One of them is staying exactly where she’s been ever since we got here,” Gruber continued. “But the other one is headed out-system.”